South Woods State Prison officer charged in contraband scheme in Bridgeton

A South Woods State Prison officer and five other defendants were charged in an alleged contraband and money-laundering scheme that prosecutors authorized on June 1 and that reached the Cumberland County facility in Bridgeton. The case centers on Senior Correctional Police Officer Kenneth Stinson, 39, of Penns Grove, who was suspended effective March 25, 2025.

The New Jersey Department of Corrections said South Woods State Prison’s Special Investigations Division began digging into the matter after a tip in September 2024. Investigators tied the alleged operation to multiple transactions that brought contraband into the prison through current and former incarcerated people and civilian associates.

South Woods sits at 215 South Burlington Road in Bridgeton and NJDOC describes it as the state’s largest and one of its newest prisons, with capacity for more than 3,000 incarcerated people. That scale makes any security breach at the site an issue for Cumberland County residents, prison staff and the families connected to the facility.

Stinson was charged with third-degree money laundering and introduction of contraband. The other defendants named in the case were Rashawn Bond, 49, of Leesburg; John Tracy, 50, of Glassboro; James Gallichio, 42, of Parlin; Desiree Tracy, 52, of Glassboro; and Melanie Posey, 53, of Conyers, Georgia. All five were charged in connection with the alleged smuggling operation.

The reporting also said an inmate’s wife was part of the arrangement, underscoring how the alleged network stretched outside the prison walls. The structure of the case points to a deliberate effort to move prohibited items into the institution for cash, with staff access, outside contacts and incarcerated people all drawn into the same chain.

State officials have treated the investigation as more than a single bad act. They said contraband inside correctional facilities threatens safety across the system, and investigators noted that these cases often reach beyond prison gates and involve layered contacts between people inside and outside custody.

The South Woods case also fits a wider run of contraband prosecutions involving New Jersey corrections officers, including recent cases tied to Christopher Santana and Christopher Piccioni. In Bridgeton, the charges now place the state’s largest prison and the people who run it under fresh scrutiny.